Top ’Cats: New-look Wildcats open camp

DURHAM — The University of New Hampshire football team held its annual media day Tuesday afternoon at an under-construction Cowell Stadium, and the players dressed for the occasion.

Asked about the new uniforms coach Sean McDonnell said he was more interested in who was wearing them.

It was a not-so-subtle reminder that it’s all business for the next four months and maybe beyond for the highly regarded Wildcats, who reached the FCS semifinals last year for the first time.

It was a big accomplishment and a long time coming for a program that exited the playoffs in the quarterfinals in six of the previous nine years.

“That was last year,” said senior running back Nico Steriti. “If we keep worrying about what we did last year, I feel like it will distract from this year and what we have to do today.”

The Wildcats were one win away from playing for a national championship despite a 1-3 start that almost left them for dead in early October.

“We try not to think about it too much,” said junior quarterback Sean Goldrich. “New day. New chapter.”

UNH won three playoff games in the same year for the first time — including two on the road — before running into juggernaut and eventual champion North Dakota State in the semis in Fargo, N.D.

“It left us hungry,” said senior co-captain Cody Muller. “We can’t be satisfied.”

Based on last year’s performance, expectations are high this season for the Wildcats, who open Aug. 30 at Toledo of the FBS. Their home opener is Sept. 13 against Lehigh of the Patriot League.

The Wildcats have reached the NCAA playoffs 10 years in a row, the longest active streak in the nation. They’ve also been ranked in the top 25 a national-best 139 consecutive weeks.

“Too excited,” Steriti said. “Can’t wait. It’s weird. The season feels like it was yesterday, but in some ways it feels like it was forever ago.”

UNH, which finished 10-5 in 2013, is picked to win the Colonial Athletic Association and is ranked fourth in a preseason national poll.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Muller said, “but we’ve got to go out there and earn it.”

“I knew in May that this was going to be the situation, that we were going to be highly ranked and we had a good team coming back,” McDonnell said. “So we sent a message ... that we’ve got to come back in the best shape of our life and be ready to go, and I think we’ve done that.”

Maine was picked to finish seventh last year, and wound up winning the regular-season title.

“It’s nice to be recognized and have a good national presence,” said senior co-captain Rob Bowman, “but we need to focus on one game at a time and not let the rankings get to our heads and just stay humble.”

The Wildcats return eight starters on an offense that features All-America receiver R.J. Harris, who ranks second all-time at UNH in career receptions, and Steriti, who was named second team all-CAA a year ago.

The receiving corps and the running back position return almost intact, and UNH has two experienced quarterbacks in Goldrich and senior Andy Vailas.

“Everybody’s pretty excited for the season,” Muller said. “I think we did very well this summer with running and lifting. Once we put the pads on we’ll see exactly where we’re at.”

The defense also brings back eight starters, including six of its top seven tacklers led by linebackers Akil Anderson and Shane McNeely, who combined for 144 stops.

Training camp officially began Monday for the Wildcats, and will conclude Aug. 21 with the fall scrimmage.

After that they’ll start preparing for the opener at Toledo. UNH begins CAA play at Richmond on Sept. 30. Three of the Wildcats’ first four games are out of conference.

“We’ve got a little more hype than we’ve had in the past,” Goldrich said. “Our focus is to take it one day at a time and let the rest work out.”